Ryan Budget Keeps Medicare Cuts GOP Once Criticized

Last fall, Republicans spent millions on TV ads attacking Democrats for cutting Medicare. Those cuts—which reduced reimbursements to drug companies, hospitals and insurance companies and totaled about $500 billion over 10 years—were made to pay for the new subsidies to younger, uninsured Americans.

“Maybe Schauer’s trying to hide his own vote to cut $500 billion from Medicare,” said one typical television ad, this one targeting then-Rep. Mark Schauer (D., Mich.), who lost his re-election bid. “Let’s save Medicare, and cut Schauer.” Like others, this ad was paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

A total of about $70 million was spent on TV ads attacking Democrats on Medicare, mostly for supporting the cuts in the health care law, according to tracking by Campaign Media Analysis Group.

But Republicans may not be all that hostile to those reductions after all.

This week, Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, released his budget proposal. It included a major restructuring of the Medicare program, and repealed much of the Democratic health care law. But his plan keeps in place the Medicare reductions.

That annoyed several health industry groups, who agreed to the cuts in exchange for more insured Americans who would be able to pay their health care bills.

A spokesman for the House Budget Committee said that the Ryan plan allocates $10 billion to preserve the Medicare Advantage program for seniors. The health care law cut $136 billion over 10 years from that program, which allows seniors to enroll in private managed-care plans. The spokesman also noted that under the Ryan plan the Medicare spending cuts would go toward deficit reduction, rather than creation of a new spending program, as the Democratic health law creates.

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